Jay's WordPress Podcast

In this episode I’ll explain how we can hide the Feedback Tab that the Jetpack plugin adds to the sidebar of the admin interface in WordPress. This tab is part of the Contact Form feature, which sadly cannot be switched off with a single slider. We’ll have to delve into debug mode and do it … Continue reading How to remove the Jetpack Feedback Tab →

In this episode I’ll show you how to hide and remove those (almost daily occurring) WordPress Update Notifications. I’ve built this functionality into a plugin I’ve written over 5 years ago called ZEN DASH. The plugin’s main purpose is to hide all kinds of clutter from the WordPress admin interface, such as unused tabs, dashboard … Continue reading How to hide WordPress Update Notifications with ZEN DASH →

In this episode I’ll show you how to install the Classic Editor plugin in WordPress 5.x. I’m also showing you how to upgrade to WordPress 5.0 and how to bring back the welcome screen that appears only once after the update. From now on, Gutenberg will be the new post and page editing experience in … Continue reading How to bring back the Classic Editor in WordPress 5.x →

In this video I’ll show you the multi-user capabilities of WordPress: how to create new users, and what capabilities the different user roles have over your WordPress site. This feature comes in handy if you collaborate with other users: each user can create posts, but such users can be restricted from deleting other people’s posts, … Continue reading WordPress 111: Users, Roles and Capabilities →

In this episode I’ll explain how you can change the URLs for your posts and pages, as they appear in your web browser. By default, WordPress uses numeric links (such as domain.com?p=123) but those are not so easy on the eye. We can change this to something like domain.com/awesome-post instead, and I’ll explain how to … Continue reading WordPress 110: URLs and Permalinks →

In this episode I’ll show you how the MORE tag works. It’s a “break mark” you can use so that longer posts don’t take up too much space on your front page. I’m also explaining a related feature called the NEXTPAGE tag with which you can break even longer posts into individual pages. You can … Continue reading WordPress 109: Mysteries of the MORE Tag →

In this episode I’ll show you how you can organise your posts with tags and categories. You don’t have to use tags, but a post is always in a default category (called “uncategorized” by default, and I’ll show you how to change that too). The full course is aimed at beginners and medium casuals alike. Whether … Continue reading WordPress 108: Tags and Categories →

In this episode I’ll show you how to embed videos from YouTube and Vimeo into your posts and pages. This works with some magic called oEmbed, a technology that only requires the URL to the video, from which WordPress can determine the correct width for your theme and pull in the complicated code we once … Continue reading WordPress 107: Embedding Videos →

In this episode I’ll show you how with images in WordPress. I’ll explain how to upload them, how to embed them into your posts and pages, and what happens behind the scenes when you do that. We’ll also discuss Featured Images, the relationship between the “image” and “embed code”, and we’ll talk about the actual … Continue reading WordPress 106: Working with Images →

In this episode I’ll show you how to use widgets. They usually materialise in a sidebar, but some themes have widgetized areas elsewhere, such as the bottom or the top of your site. I will also show you how to remove unwanted widgets. And while we’re at it, I will also explain what a sidebar … Continue reading WordPress 105: Widgets and Sidebars →

In this episode I will show you how to use Custom Menus in WordPress. It depends on the theme if and where menus show up, but the principle of adding items to a menu and how to order them are the same no matter which theme you use. Menus are a great way to let … Continue reading WordPress 104: Custom Menus →

In this episode I’ll show you how to create posts and pages, and I’ll explain the differences between them. We’ll also discuss formatting and I’ll briefly explain how to use the HTML editor. The full course is aimed at beginners and medium casuals alike. Whether you’ve been away from WordPress for a while, or if you’re … Continue reading WordPress 103: Writing Posts and Pages →

In this video I’ll show what themes are and how to use them in WordPress (downloading, installing, activating and deleting). I’ll also show you how to preview themes before putting them live. Themes are what WordPress uses to style the look and feel of the front page. Depending on what theme you use, options in … Continue reading WordPress 102: Using Themes →

In this course I’ll talk you through how to use WordPress. This first episode focusses on general workflow, how to log in, how WordPress works and how to use the integrated help system. I will also briefly cover software updates for WordPress, Themes and Plugins. The full course is aimed at beginners and medium casuals alike. … Continue reading WordPress 101: Introduction and Workflow →